UCLA, NBA star talks about 'path to glory' to inspire area's high school seniors.

Bill Walton, the main speaker for Wednesday night's Via All-Star Basketball Classic banquet, said during his presentation that English was his fifth language after "stuttering, stammering, stumbling and spitting."

But Walton, who won two NCAA championships at UCLA and a pair of NBA crowns in an injury-shortened career, was able to get a message through to the 610 people gathered at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center.

And that message was that the "path to glory" was a multi-step process built with a foundation of qualities such as determination, perseverance and discipline.

Certainly those who were honored at the event know what Walton was talking about.

Bethlehem Catholic's Bridget Smith and Northern Lehigh's Josh Eden certainly are believers in some of the elements of John Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" that Walton talked extensively about.

Smith and Eden won $2,000 scholarships as Via's scholar-athletes for the just completed season.

The scholarships are based on basketball ability, academics, citizenship and extracurricular activities.

Both will be playing Saturday when the 38th annual Via All-Star Classic's Super Saturday unfolds at Northampton Community College. The four games featuring the top seniors from the Colonial League, Lehigh Valley Conference and Mountain Valley Conference begin at 10:30 a.m. and continue all day.

Smith and Eden could relate to Walton, who began and ended his 321/2 -minute speech by saying, "I'm Bill Walton and I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

"It's a great honor, especially since there were some very good candidates " said Smith, who was one of 20 applicants for the scholarship. "I have so much support, especially from my parents. They do everything they can to help me. They have sacrificed so much for me. I had great teammates and I love everything about Bethlehem Catholic, the teachers, everybody."

Unlike everyone else in the room, Smith's basketball season didn't end until Saturday, when her Golden Hawks played in the PIAA Class 3A state title game against South Park.

Even though Becahi didn't win the game, Smith certainly could feel like a success.

"An event like this is great because it honors so many people and raises money for a great organization like Via," said Smith, who is planning on a college basketball career, possibly at Haverford or Amherst.

Eden knows where he's going.

He is headed to Elizabethtown to play for former Central Catholic coach Bob Schlosser.

"It's a cool honor because there's a lot of worthy student-athletes here tonight," said Eden, who is the second member of his Northern Lehigh team to receive a scholar-athlete award this month. Earlier, Caleb Johnson was named scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Lehigh Valley Chapter.

"Northern Lehigh is not well known, but there's a lot of great teachers there and they're getting the job done," Eden said. "It's definitely plausible to get athletics and academics done at a high level. The keys are time management, being disciplined, making sure you're on top of everything. If you don't, things pile up and you're not going to be as successful in life."

Eden will be a business major in college, but he has some business to take care of on the court.

He is looking forward to his final scholastic game when he will play for the Colonial League against the Lehigh Valley Conference West, which will feature some of his former classmates from Parkland. Eden attended school in the Parkland district through eighth grade.

Besides the scholar-athletes, the Via "teams of the year" were announced.

The girls squad featured Ramonia Benitez of Pocono Mountain West, Hannah Gombos of Parkland, Loren Kaiser of Phillipsburg, Morgan McCollian of Bangor and Smith. The girls player of the year was Navy-bound Sara Jones of Northwestern.

And while the current stars were honored, so were many past greats were saluted as the Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame welcomed four new individuals as members, and, for the first time, two teams were inducted..

The honorees were former Whitehall standout Jerry Lloyd, ex-Allen great Ray Barbosa, gifted three-sport athlete Mike Guman of Bethlehem Catholic, Penn State and NFL fame, and former Dieruff athlete and current Service Electric TV2 broadcaster Mike Zambelli.

In addition, the 1982 Whitehall state champion boys team and the 1975 Dieruff girls state champs were inducted.

In a warm-hearted touch, family was emphasized during the Hall of Fame presentations. Guman and Zambelli had their sons, Andrew and Mike, Jr. introduce them.

Lloyd mentioned his father, Kevin, prominently during his acceptance speech, and Pam Tillett, Barbosa's mother, accepted the award on his behalf because he is beginning his fourth professional season in Puerto Rico and couldn't attend the banquet.

Barbosa, a two-time Morning Call player of the year, finished his career in 2003 with 2,202 points and went on to score 1,013 more at James Madison before finishing his college career at University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

Lloyd, a 1998 graduate, ended his Zephyrs career with 1,544 points and went on to a stellar career at Mount St. Mary's.

Guman, best known for football, totaled 1,372 points for the Golden Hawks and played in the first LARC All-Star Classic, the precursor to the Via event, as a senior in 1976.

Zambelli didn't score 1,000 points, but has more than 1,000 memories of his youth on Allentown's east side and has gone on to broadcast well more than 1,000 memorable games in his role with TV2, which began in 1988.